Coin-slot closure for scales



Match 13, 1928.

1,662,642 a. F. HOCHRIEM COIN SLOT CLOSURE FOR SCALES Filed June 26. m6 .5 S119 ts-Sheet 1 March 13, 1928. 1,662,642

G. F. HOCHRIEM COIN SLOT CLOSURE FOR SCALES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26, 1926 '7 6&5 avizmnm March .13, 1928.

G. F. HOCHRIEM COIN SLOT CLOSURE FOR SCALES 67? for."

t5jS heetS-Sheet. 3

Filed une 26. 1926 1,662,642 G F HOCHRIEM COIN SLOT CLOSUR E FOR SCALES 26, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 9,2211! .ill

March 13, 1928.

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Patented Mar. 13, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAV F. HOCHR-IEM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO RHODES-HOCHRIEM MAN- UFACTURING CO., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

COIN-SLOT CLOSURE FOR SCALES.

Application filed June 26, 1926. Serial No. 118,672. I

This invention relates to improvements in a coin slot closure for scales, and refers more particularly to an automatically operated shutter adapted to open and close the coin slot of a coin-controlled ticket-printing and delivering scale.

At the present time coin controlled ticketprinting and delivering scales are becoming popular with the public.

Briefly describing their operation: A person steps on the scale platform, and the depression of this platform sets in motion mechanism for bringing the printing memher into printing position. In one type of scale now on the market this printing mem ber' takes the form of a rotating wheel having numbers on its periphery. It is obvious that the printing wheel will oscillate somewhat before coming to a balanced standstill. Some means must be provided, therefore, to prevent the insertion of a coin which prints the Weight of the person standing on the scale platform on the ticket, after which the ticket is ejected, until the printing wheel has come to a stand-still and for this purpose there is provided an automatically perated shutter having a delayed movement communicated to it by the original movement started by a person stepping on the scale platform. This shutter normally closes the coin slot; but due to this delayed movement, it is automatically opened, thus pern'iitting the insertion of a coin into the coin slot to actuate the ticket printing and delivering mechanism.

The present invention has for its object, therefore, to provide an efiicient automatically operated coin slot shutter. In normal position, that is, when the scale is idle, this shutter normally closes the coin slot open- Vhen a person steps upon the scale platform, mechanism is set in operation which moves the shutter away from the coin slot opening, permitting the insertion of a coin. After the coin has been inserted and has actuated the ticket printing and ejecting mechanisms, such operation also functions to positively return the shutter to closed position.

The coin slot closure of the presentinvention has been so perfected that it is foolproof, in that if a person steps off the scale platform without inserting a coin the shutter, which had been moved away from the the scaleplatform and the mechanism is in proper position to function. At any other time the shutter is in position to close the coin slotopening. Under the control of the mechanism moving the shutter, I have also provided mechanism for automatically closing the shutter to a locked position when the.

supply of ticketsis exhausted, thus prevent ing the. insertion of a coin when the supply of tickets is exhausted. I

In the drawings, F 1, is a diagram matierear elevational'view of scale mechanism operatingthe coin slot closure, this figure illustrating normal position. Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the position of the mechanisms after a person has stepped on the platform and before the insertion of a coin. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the dotted and full lines the positions of the mechanism at the instant the coin functions to place certain mechanisms in operation and immediately.subsequent thereto. Fig. 4 is a side elevational view partly in vertical section showing the mechanism for moving the shutter. Fig. 5 a front viewshowing the shutter closing the coin slot. Fig, 6 is a similar view showing the shutter after having lJBSDl'l'lOVQCl away from the coin slot to permit the insertion of a coin. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic front view showing the mechanism for locking the shutter in closed position when the supply of tickets has been exhausted.

In order to avoid confusion as to draw ings, I have illustratedniy invention as being applied to a type of ticket printing s'cale Isis heretoforedescribed inco-pending application filed ointly in my name and in the name of Seth A. Rhodes, Serial No. 200, filed January 2, 1925. In that application when a person steps upon the'scale platform, said mechanism which raises the upright; rod 1 having the pivotal connection at 2 with a rocker arm 3, pivoted at; 1 on a central plate 5. on the front l back of which plate 5 most oi the interior operating mechanism of the scale is supprn'tcd. 'lhe rocker arm is pivotally connected at its other end. as shown at ti. to the downwardly extending rod 7, which cinntected to any suitable means for lllJSUl'iJlllg the shock of the weightbeing placed upon the scale platform. its the rocker arm 3 is being rocked on the pivot 1, itwill push upwardly an upright rod 8 which has detachable connection therewith, as shown at t). Intern'iediate the length of this red 8, it is provided with two sets of coil springs it) and 11. The lower end of the spring 10 supported by means of the collar 12, supported in fixed relation relative the rod 8 by means (it the set screw 13. A collar 14. having a vertical slot 15, is positioned on the rod above the spring 10 and confines the movement thereof, the slot working in combination with a pin 16 mounted on the rod 8. In Fig. 1 the rod 8 is shown in normal position, while in Fig. 2 the rod 8 is shown as having been forced 11pward by the weight of a person stepping on the scale platform. As heretofore described, the upward movement of the rod 8 has forced the spring 10 and collar 1 L upward until the upward face of the collar 1-12 has contacted an outwardly projecting lug 17 carried by a horizontal rod 18 iivotally mounted at 19 on the plate 5. The rod 18 has been c: used to rock on its pivot 19 through the action of collar 14, forcing lug 17 upwardly. This upward movement of the rod 18 lorces upwardly a rocker arm 20 disposed adjacent one edge of said arm 18 at substantially right angles thereto. This rocker arm 20 extends from the, rear of the plate through the slot 21 and projects a substantial distance in front of the front face of the plate This rocker arm 20 is pivotally mounted intermediate its length as shown at 22 on the supporting bracket 2 which projects from the face oi" the plate 5. The front end of the rocker arm 20 is considerably reduced in thickness and projects. prcteral'ily. in the form of the rod 24. This rod 21 passes through an internal aperture 12:) made adjacent one end of the cross-arm portion Q6 of the shutter designated. as a whole, 27. This shutter 27 is mounted for pivotal movement intermediate the two ends of the arm 26 at the point 28 and supported on the spaced return bend portion 29 of a plate 30. The plate 30 is provided with internal slots 31 adjacent one edge. into which are adapted to be placed adjustable screws 32 connected to the bracket 33, which may be attached to the cabinet of the scale. Depending from the arm 26. which is mounted in substantially a horizontal plane, is a neeaeez downward projection 34, which is enlarged adjacent; its lower edge, as shown at 35, which latter may be provided with an out wardly projecting extension INS. 'lho purpose of the portion 215 and extension 36 is to [il0.tl)i distortion or straining of the metal by the 't't'irce a person might exercise to inject a, coin 3T into the coin slot opening 238. The coin slot, opening 38 conninniicates with a coin chute $351.

Now. summing up the operations which have taken place thus far: The person has stepped upon the platform. causing the rod 1 to rock the lever 13 and t'oi'cine the rod upwardly. 'l'hc upward movement. of this rod has forced the rod 18 to rock uj'iwardlj. on its pivot, which simultaneously l'orccs th rear end of the rocker arm 2H to be forced u 'nvardly which rocking" on pivot 2'3 forces the front end 53-: downwardly. The front end 21- registering with the aperture 25 in the shutter 27 has positively l'orced one cud downwardly rocking on the iivot 2a, which positively causes the depending projection 31-. with portions and 36. to move away from the coin slot opening 3b. The machine is now ready to receive. a coin.

To avoid any confusion. it; may be here stated that the coil spring; 1i and portions of the rod 8 which project above the lug 17 form no part of the present invention, being conneeteiil to a means t'or automatieally regulating the inking; ribbon teed.

Assume now that a coin has been inserted in the open coin slot '55. dropping through the coin chute $31) until it trips a coin trip lever (not shown), which in turn rocks the pivoted doe lt) away from the upright rod -11. permitting the said upright rod 4] to descend. due either to its own weight or to an auxiliary weight. The downward movement of the rod 41 carries with it one end of a cross-arm 4'3 having a roller l t. The cross-arm 42 has its other end pivoially mounted on the plate 5, as shown at it. the rod '11 descends. the roller 4 will rid over the surface of the latch it) mounted for pivotal movcincnt. as shown. at it on a bracket -iT. depending from the lower dge of the plate 4". tcrmcdiatc its length with a dog in which in normal position rccistcrs with one end of a lever it). also pivoted at i of the plate It. As the roller rides over the upper end of the latch 4-5. it will rorl: said latch out .vardly. releasing the end oi the lever if) from engagement with doe' 4-8. The opposite end of the lever -19 is greatly enlarecd. as shown at 50. to provide snfiicicni \t't'lfjlil to cause the said released end to move upwardly. Projecting from a side oi" the lever 49 a lug: 51 in which is mounted the set screw 52. The arrangemen such that as lever if) roclrs upwardly. the upper end of the said screw 52 will contact the lower The latch '15 is provided in- Ill) face of the lever .42, also forcing same upward simultaneously, until the rod ll has again become latched in suspended position by means of the dog 40 heretofore described. This is more clearly shown in full lines in Fig. 3. 7

As the weighted end 50 falls, it carries with it an upright rod 53 having a coil spring 54 positioned intermediate its length. As shown more clearly in Fig. 4, this rod 53 projects through an aperture 55 in the end of the rocker arm 20heretofore described.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 3, the upper end of the rod 53 is' provided with a screw-threaded collar 56 functioning to compress the spring hat between it and the upper face of the rear end of rocker arm 20. This movement serves to force said rear end of the rocker arm 20, as Well as the free end of arm 18, downwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, which restores the coin slot shutter 27 to normal position (Fig. 5), closing the coin slot opening 38. Excess movement of the shutter 27 is prevented by means of the projecting lug 57, Fig. 5.

Summing up, now, the operations which by the insertion of a coin have moved the shutter 27 to a position closing coin slot 38, a coin caused rod 41 to descend, carrying with it the roller 43. The roller 13, riding on the latch 45, released an end of lever 49 from engagement with dog 48, causing said released end to move upwardly, due to. the weighted end 50 which descends. In its upward movement the said released end of lever 49 caused the lever 12 to be restored to suspended position by means of the set screw 51.. The downward movement of the weighted end 50 of lever 49 forced clownwarclly the rod 53, causing a contraction of the spring 54 between the upper surface of the rear end of rocker arm 20 and the collar 56, which in turn forced said rear end of rocker arm 20 downwardly, as well as the free end of arm 18. This caused the rocker arm 20 to rock on pivot 22, the pin end 24 being forced upwardly to'normal position as shown in full lines in Figs. land The position of the mechanism as shown in Fig. 3 corresponds to the position assumed after the insertion of a coin, the printing and ejection of a ticket, and while the person is still standing on the scale platform. It will thus be immediately obvious that the present invention provides an automatically operated shutter for the coin slot opening by which the weight of a person stepping on the platform sets into force mechanism which moves said shutter away from its normal position and permits insertion of a coin. The insertion of the coin tripped mechanism which simultaneously printed and ejected the ticket and restored the shutter to a positionclosing the coin 1. This is not possible, since the lug slot opening. This movement of the shutter to closed position has been accomplished while the person is still standing on the scale platform. l

It will be immediately obvious that the device is absolutely foolproof and performs with an absolute certainty of operation.

Returning for a moment to the lever 3, when it has been forced upwardly by the weight of a person stepping-on the platform through the raising of rod 1, a lug 58 projecting from one side forces upwardly a latch 59 pivoted at'60 and held under springtension by the coil spring 61. After the lug 58 has been moved above the shoulder or dog 62' on the upper end of said latch, said latch will, through the coil spring 61, rock to normal position. 'The arrangement is such that when a person steps upon the scale the coin slot shutter 27 is opened. To prevent the shutter 27 from remaining inan open position if such person steps off the scale without inserting a coin, I have allowed enough play between the lug'58.

and dog 62, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, to move said shutter to closed position by the lug 58 moving into contact with dog 62. It ma be well to explainthis action more in detail. As the person steps ed the platform without inserting a coin, the levers in the scale basewhich cause the upright rod 1 to be raised when the person stepped on the scale platfornnare restored to normal position, and in this restoration, the rod 1 will be pulled downwardly carrying with it the lever 3 from the side of the projected lug 58. If the latch 59 were not in the path of movement of the lug 58, the rod 1 pulling on the lever 3, through the mechanism in the scale base returning to normal position, would restore the lever 23 and rod 1 to normal position, such as illustrated in Fig. 58 will engage in the shoulder or dog of the intense, thus latching the lever 3 in suspended position. There will be some movement in a downward direction of rod 1, tending to restore the arm 3 to normal position since, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the arrangement is such that there is some space between the face of the lug 58 and the upper face of the shoulder 62. This slight rocking of the arm 63 will be transmitted through the rod 8 and levers 18 and 25' to rock the coin slot shutter 27 back to closed position. v

Returning now to the position of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3. When a per son steps'olf the scale platform, the latch 59 having been movedfioutwardly by the lug .51 on the lever 49, the movement of the platform will cause the rod 1 to descend, which sets in motion elements to restore the mechanisms described to the norm al positions shownin Fig. 1. i

This latter operation is fully described in said co-pending application, and needs no description here, as it forms no part of the present invention.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that; the shutter of the present invention will be in closed position at all times except when a person is standing upon the scale platform and the mechanism is in proper condition to function.

As a further feature of the present invention, depending from the rocker arm 20, intermediate its length, is a rod 63. This rod 3 is connected to one end of a crossbar tl-l pivoted at (35. The other end 66 of this crossbar ettends into the plane in which the vertical movable ticketsupport (57 travels. For the purpose of more clearly bringing out the function of arm (it and rod 6?, I have shown in Fig. 7 a diagrammatic front elevational view of a ticket printing scale such as is shown in said copending application. (37 designates a support on which are anchored springs 08. A rod extends upwardly from the plate 67 to a ticket support 70, on which tickets 71 are mounted and moved upwardly between the vertical walls of a magazine Tickets are fed to the printing mechanism singly by means-of the ejector 73, forcing tickets to a printing wheel Tl. A printing ribbon 75 imprints the desired impression on the ticket. A hammer, not shown but actuated by the insertion of the coin, produces the desired impression.

In operation, as each ticket is singly ejected from the stack 71, the springs (38 will maintain a constant pressure on said stack, forcing same upwardly so that a ticket is always available at the top of the stack. As the stack decreases, the plate ('37 will move upwardly. Vv'hen there is only a small num ber of tickets left in the magazine, the plate (ST in its upward movement will contact the end 66 of the arm 6- rocking said end up wardly on pivot (35 and forcing the opposite end dmvnwardly. This opposite end is the end which is connected to the rod (33, which of course will also be forced downwardly. 'lhe downward movement of rod (IS will force the rear end of the rocker arm 2) downwardly and, rocking on the pivot 22, will force the pin end it upwardly to move the shutter 27 to the closed posit-ion shown in Fig. .3. Any subsequent movement of the scale platforms by persons stepping thereon after the supply of tickets has been exhausted will not move the shutter 27. This particular feature will overcome many complaints lodged against weighing scales.

I claim as my invention:

1. A coin slot closure mechanism for coincontrolled ticket printing scales comprising in combination a lever actuable by a weight being placed on the scale platform, an upright rod connected to said lover, a pivotally mounted arm having cooperative engagement with said upright rod, 11 second arm extending at substantially right angles to said first mentioned arm and cooperatively associated therewith, a movably mounted coin slot shutter engaged by said second arm and functioned by the movement of the latter to open or close the coin slot opening.

2. A coin slot closure mechanism for coincontrolled ticket printing scales comprising, in combination a lever actuable by a weight being placed on the scale platform, an upright rod connected to said lever, a pivotally mounted arm having cooperative engagement with said upright rod, a second arm extending at substantially right angles to said first mentioned arm and cooperatively associated therewith, a movably mounted coin slot shutter engaged by said second arm and functioned by the movement of the latter to open or close the coin slot opening, a lever actuable by mechanism set in motion by the insertion of a coin, means connected thereto and having cooperative engagement with said second arm whereby normal movement of said second lever after insertion of a coin returns the shutter to closed position.

3. A coin slot closure mechanism for coincontrolled ticket printing scales comprising in combination a lever actuable by a weight being placed on the scale platform, an upright rod connected to said lover. a pivotally mounted arm having coo wrative engagement with said upright rod. a second arm extending at substantially right angles to said first mentioned arm and cooperatively associated therewith, a movably mounted coin slot shutter engaged by said second arm and functioned by the movement of the latter to open or close ll 3 coin slot opening, spring tension means carried by said upright rod adapted to be contracted against said first mentioned arm to hold same in raised position only when a weight is on the scale platform and before the insertion of a coin.

4-. A coin slot closure mechanism for coincontrolled ticket printing scales comprising in combination a lever actuable by a weight being placed on the scale platform. an np right rod connected to said lever, a pivot ally mounted arm having ('.()()1)(?.l2lll\'t3 engagement with said upright rod, a second arm extending at substantially right angles to said first mentioned arm and cooperatively associated therewith, a movably mounted coin slot shutter engaged by said second arm and functioned by the movement of the latter to open or close the coin slot opening, and means, including a movable latch and lever functioning to return said shutter to normal position, closing the ill) Hit)

coin slot opening, when a Weight is removed from the scale platform, Without the insertion of a coin.

5. A coin slot closure mechanism for coincontrolled ticket printing scales having a ticket magazine, comprising in combination a lever actuable by a Weight being placed on the scale platform, an upright rod connected to said lever, a pivotally mounted arm having cooperative engagement with said upright rod a second arm extending at substantially right angles to said first mentioned arm and cooperatively associated therewith, a movably mounted coin slot shutter engaged by said second arm andfunctioned by the movement of the latter to open or close the coin slot opening, and means for automatically moving said shutter to close the coin slot opening when the supply of tickets in the magazine is substantially exhausted, including means connected to said shutter and having cooperative engagement with a ticket support movable up and down in said magazine.

GUSTAV F. HOCHRIEM. 

